Cascade Christian, St. Mary's runners advance to state meet

Friday

Oct 26, 2012 at 12:01 AMOct 26, 2012 at 10:05 PM

VALLEY OF THE ROGUE STATE PARK — Capturing the 3A/2A/1A District 6 cross country championship is nothing new for the Cascade Christian boys team, which won it for the fifth consecutive season Thursday.

VALLEY OF THE ROGUE STATE PARK — Capturing the 3A/2A/1A District 6 cross country championship is nothing new for the Cascade Christian boys team, which won it for the fifth consecutive season Thursday.

But for Challengers junior Stephanie Croy, it was her first individual district crown. She covered the 5,000-meter course in 19 minutes, 41.09 seconds, beating out runner-up Sarah Estabrook of Triad Christian (20:14.9).

"Stephanie she showed that she's a champion and, really, the entire boys team showed they were, too," said Challengers coach Steve Williston.

The top two teams and top five individuals advance to the state meet Nov. 3 at Lane Community College in Eugene.

The St. Mary's girls claimed the team title and advance to state for the seventh straight time. Taylor Kreul led four St. Mary's individuals into the top 10. Kreul was third in 21:32.5, Brooklyn Gillespie fifth (22:05.09), Gianna Isola seventh (22:19.09) and Madeline Volk ninth (22:33.9).

"We've got very, very good depth," said St. Marys' coach Joe Volk. "We can really bunch them up there and that bodes well when we get to state.

The Cascade Christian girls, which got a sixth-place finish from Brittany Brown (22:14.8), took second.

The triumphant Cascade Christian boys were paced by Tristan Akery and Alex Cummings, who finished second and third, respectively. Akery's time was 17:22.4, behind winner Chris Merlos of New Hope Christian (16:51.7). Cummings clocked 17:28.09.

Also for the Challengers, Tim McPherson took sixth (18:06.59), Steven Mein seventh (18:17.7) and John Shipley ninth (18:32).

St. Mary's boys were second, tying with New Hope Christian but earning a trip to state on a tiebreaker.

Chris Martin took fifth in 17:53.59 to lead the Crusaders, and Peter Schwartz placed eighth (18:29.7).